Quentin shakes his head, “I’ve never heard of that before. There are sentient magical items out their and they can turn on you but that isn’t what you’re describing. Do you mind if I try and cast Identify on the sword?” 

"I suppose," Mindartis says, taking his sword off his back and offering it to Quentin.

Quentin gently takes it and begins to cast Identify for Mindartis. 

 Quentin realizes that somehow, Mindartis's sword has absorbed magical power and knowledge from another weapon it struck.

Now in addition to its usual powers, it can be thrown and will return to the hand of its owner, will deal thunder damage when thrown, and extra lightning damage on a thrown critical hit.

Quentin's eye widen as he tells Mindartis, "Your weapon is learning and absorbing powers from other weapons it's interacted with. You can throw it and it'll return to you, as well as dealing some thunder and possibly lightning damage when thrown."

Mindartis looks at his sword, "Huh... didnt know magic items could do that."

Raven would pat her new squire on the back and accept the bag of tricks from the ranger.  She would nod politely to the duchess , wondering what sort of armor would come of it, and hoping her prod about the best she could afford to have magically enhanced would get the woman's pride into the matter.

She would sit back and listen to her companions making their requests and would nod as the knights were rallied to fight against the enemy in the north.  she only wished she could go with them, but she had a feeling their skills would be needed elsewhere.

((Okay, so what is the plan?  At the moment, the combined forces at the hall are expecting Mindartis to lead them into battle against the gnoll forces in the forest, first thing in the morning.  Flitterbug knows where they are, and can lead you to them. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to have a good, stealthy scout along, unless Raven has other plans.)

Del will strongly recommend staying together. We won't get any of our threads untangled each on our own. If Lord Mindartis feels we can get this one area free from gnolls, well, we can leave this Akwot for another day

Del also chimes in on the magic item discussion The rare artifacts can do surprising things. This crwth - I won't say "my" - Ziia, is interceding in my magic, more than just the extra spells she lets me cast. I have magic granted in a different way than before, more like Sir Elwin describes. And I think there is no malice - far from it, it is like The Lady is using Ziia to help us.

Elwin took note of Del's description of his new magic, briefly wondering if it meant he now had a de facto patron. But he shelved the thought, and nodded at his companion's suggestion to work together.

"I'm ready to ride out tomorrow with the rest," he noted. "Besides," he added with a smile, "I could stand to redeem my combat skills after that tournament."

If one of them is heading to fight, then Raven will be more than willing to go with as well.  She too would not wish to split up the group.

"If we can cut off the gnolls assults here," Mindartis says, "whoever's in charge is going to have a much harder time using them as tools for their plans."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. Now if you'l excuse me. I have a prince to keep updated on what I'm doing and I'm going to see if I can transcribe a spell or two." Quentin tells the group with a smile before heading off to his bedroom. 

(DM: Am I able to transcribe and long rest and send my letter?) 

Looks like we are agreed to ride off together with the Hall Knights in the morning. Do we know anything about the enemy, terrain, civilians, allies &c? How many? How far? yadda yadda yadda? Are we amateurs doing some kind of commando stuff, staying with the main force, or what?

After the entertaining, Del will talk about what we know of the situation up north, then pen his financial instructions and do a Sending to Sister Almara updating the Abbey on the latest hag and Ziia events. He will give the skinny to our new junior squire Sir Ethan Your boss can be kind of mysterious, but we will all look out for you (what is this kid anyway?) I am training a couple giant hyenas as mounts (Del goes on with hyena facts - Sir Ethen have any interest? Persuasion 22) Del can also lend a longbow if the squire needs a range option

then get a good rest

In an eight-hour rest, Quentin needs four hours in trance, leaving 4 hours for letter-writing and transcribing. If the letter is short, the amount of time spent on it can be negligible, leaving 4 hours for the transcribing.

Sir Ethan has a bow and arrows, and a greatsword. He's about 19 years old. He was knighted in a small court called Lindermoss, where his cousin was a powerful noble. But then their ruling queen died without a direct heir, there was a huge squabble over the succession, and several of the most powerful nobles--including his cousin--wiped each other--and most of their families--out. The court dissolved into chaos and broke apart completely. His knight's quest had been to find a lost relic that would prove his cousin's right to the throne, and he succeeded, but not in time: when he returned he discovered that he no longer had a cousin, or a court, and that the surviving nobles had gone their own ways, looking for new lands and new governments to be part of. He wryly shows you an engraved stone amulet that he says is now prove that he is the rightful king of Lindermoss...except there is no more Lindermoss.

He is happy to accept your offer of a riding hyena.  It means he can sell his horse and have a little coin in his pockets for emergencies.

Nobody here has details on the enemy, but they assure you that by morning, Sir Rokkeek will have consulted with scryers and the people of the forest, and have a better idea what your will be up against. Flitterbug tells you that there is a big tree full of sprites trying to save it, and there's a big ring of gnolls around it, who have hacked and burned the nearby forest, and that archers from the surrounding woods keep shooting at the gnolls and running away, and the tree keeps blasting them with spells, too. "But there are lots of gnolls. And they keep making the hacked place bigger, so the archers have farther to shoot," she finishes.

(Assuming it is going to take a while for the armor, or is it going to be ready in the morning?)

raven would spar with her new squire, testing his skills to some extent.  She would take the job of training him quite seriously and would want to know his skills, since there was not really much of those shown before she struck him down during the combat.

(Yeah, sorry, I'm afraid the armor will take a while.  The duchess hasn't even gone home to her artificers yet. But it will be worth the wait.)

Sparring with Sir Ethen, he seems strong, but not too quick or bright. You'd guess he is about a third level fighter.

Quentin does just that, his letter to the Prince short and just explaining their next move before he spends time copying a couple spells, his magical inkwell now dry.

MIndartis writes a letter to Arania explaining they were heading to the north to try and run off the gnolls for the final time and he wasn't sure when his next letter would be.

Once you finish any tasks you want to do before bed, you all settle down for a long night's rest (or not. :D Up to you.)

You rise early in the morning to a lot of noise from outside. From the window, you can see gnome and elf fighters from the nearby villages and fey from the forest, who have gathered in reaction to the news that the Hall is setting forth to attack.  There are also ranks of soldiers, sitting and napping in their formations, who must have been marching up from the southern border most of the night. A mob of Quentin's fools are also assembled, with makeshift weapons.

Going down to the dining hall, you find the knights and officers who are going on the gnoll hunt hastily scarfing down some breakfast and planning for the day.  You overhear that Sor Rokkeek and a hand-picked selection of knights will remain to protect the hall and its diplomats while the others are away. A young page hastily hands letters to Elwin, Mindartis and Quentin.

The officers stand around a table, where an old korred is scratching a rough map into the tabletop with a rock. "The tree is at the center, protected by a wall of thorns, for now," he says. "Between the thorn wall and the outer stockade is where the gnolls are. We've dammed the stream to the north, and have managed to defend the dam, but they've dug a well, or maybe it was the sprites, but they've got a pond inside. The thorn wall keeps them off the tree with their axes, but they have build some catapults, and have been hurling burning pitch at the trees, and the sprites have everything they can do to put it out. They never seem to run out of supplies or pitch, somehow.  They've cleared to forest all around the stockade, and every day they send out gnolls to hack down more trees, and patrols to hunt for the defenders, or to attack the dam again. At the northwest of the stockade, by the pond and gate, they've put up some buildings, and that's where the Hags and Fangs of Yeenoghu stay. There are some more buildings by the south gate, and that's where they take prisoners."